Want to ace that interview and increase your chances of actually landing the job? A new study says the best thing to do is interview on a different day than your strongest competition. Or, if you think you’re a strong candidate, at least try to schedule your own meeting for the morning.

According to new research published in the journal Psychological Science, interviewers have trouble seeing the forest from the trees. They often make their decisions based on the ratings they’ve given the interviewees directly before the interview, as opposed to someone’s true merits.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Harvard Business School found that people interviewing MBA degree candidates tended to rate applicants based on the earlier scores they’d given out that day — not in relation to the entire pool of students applying for the class.